Well now all 4 Alpine Type S 5x7 speakers are installed. The sound improvement is so-so. I attribute this to the lack of watts from the factory head unit. Is that most likely the cause? My new one should be here in a couple of weeks.

And here's a little FYI...
If you are using the crutchfield or similar speaker connectors, beware of the extra wire in the door hitting the windows when they roll down. I had this problem on my front doors. It was easily solved with a little bit of 2-sided tape to keep the wires out of the way of the window.

 

Yeah, you will notice a big difference once you get an amp to the speakers. The head unit will power them ok, but it will only be a slight step up from the factory head unit. You need something powering them with at least the wattage of the speakers rms power to get the best quality from your set up. And when you get an amp to the components, it will be night and day!!!

 

The RMS watts for the speakers is 2-40
The RMS watts of the deck is 16
I figure I should be pretty happy with that.

 

oh, sorry. I thought I read that it was the components. Sorry. I just said that because I have the Type R components in my Scab and running them without an amp, they sounded only marginally better than the stock speakers. But once the amp was on, they blew me away. You will notice a much better quality with an amp but those speakers will still sound great with an aftermarket head unit.

 

best bet is to replace the radio and get a 4 channel .. but changing the radio will make the biggest diff....

i got 6.5 comps all the way around off a 4 channel and sounds awsome,,

 

I thought about going with a 4 channel, but I think I'm gonna see how they sound with a new head unit.

 

I strongly recommend the component version ( SPS-571A) in place of the SPS-570A's that you currently have up front.

Big difference in sound and power is key also, as others have said here.

 

Go with an amp!!!!!!!!! You do not get anything worth listening to with a head unit! No dynamics what-so-ever! You can't do much with 10 watts of power, if your lucky enough to consistantly get that much out of it. Go on ebay and you can find yourself a very nice amp for fairly cheap if your on a budget.